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Emperor executive director Donald Cheung Ping-keung. Photo: Nora Tam

Developer Emperor buys Wan Chai office block for HK$1.6b

The commercial tower at 60 Gloucester Road has 27 floors and a basement, with a total gross floor area of about 95,557 square feet. The price works out to HK$16,618 per square foot.

Paggie Leung

Developer Emperor International has paid HK$1.588 billion for the Wing Hang Finance Centre in Wan Chai, in a relatively uncommon purchase of an entire building in the area.

The commercial tower at 60 Gloucester Road has 27 floors and a basement, with a total gross floor area of about 95,557 square feet. The price works out to HK$16,618 per square foot.

Keith Leung Ka-wing, commercial department manager at Centaline Property Agency, said the price was reasonable.

"It's rare to find an en bloc building for sale on Gloucester Road. But as a reference, some floors at the neighbouring AXA Centre are now being offered for about HK$16,000 per square foot," Leung said.

Emperor executive director Donald Cheung Ping-keung said: "The Wing Hang Finance Centre, located in the prime office area on Gloucester Road in Wan Chai, is a rare building with a sea view and has a lot of potential for upgrades. We expect the building will become a long-term investment project for the group."

The developer said it was positive about the development potential of Wan Chai owing to the many redevelopment projects there and the planned Sha-Tin-to-Central railway link.

Jones Lang LaSalle, the sales agent, said shops occupy the ground floor of the office tower, with parking spaces on the second and third floors. The building comes with large signage space on its external walls.

Wing Hang Bank said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange that through the disposal of its wholly owned subsidiary Honfirst, which owned the property, the bank realised a gain of HK$255.49 million from the transaction.

It said the proceeds would be used to fund expansion of the bank's core banking business and for working capital.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Emperor buys Wan Chai office block for HK$1.6b
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